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Wireless Sensor Networks are networks of sensors designed to detect the presence of a fault in the system and report it to a central control station (PCS) or enterprise wide system. The system is designed to detect faults that may occur during normal operation of the equipment and to send email or SMS alerts when such an event occurs. This enables emergency response teams to have advance warning of an impending fault so that they can take preventive measures or remedy it before the equipment is affected. This technology can be applied in many places including military installations, aviation facilities, mines, pipelines and power distribution networks etc. In addition, this technology can also be used for industrial testing purposes.
The way in which the networks operate is quite simple. When a fault is detected, the sensors pick up the information and send an alert to the central control station or enterprise wide system. From there, the system monitors the network and tries to find out if there is any problem. If no problem is found, the network is allowed to continue running while the monitoring process is carried out.
In case of a fault, the networks are designed to detect the fault condition and report it. The main purpose of these networks is to provide advanced notification to users of the network status. For example, if the monitoring network detects a power outage, all the other networks across the building will also be alerted. The administrator can then decide what actions to take based on the network status.
There are two types of wireless fault sensors — passive and active. A passive system can be configured to run even without an active PC. These sensors run without an operating system, and they receive their power and signals from sensors and other wireless components. On the other hand, an active system must always be kept up-to-date with the latest installation and security updates from an authorized service provider. This ensures maximum protection against intrusion and possible damage caused by unexpected faults in the system.
The administrator of these networks can keep track of installed sensors and make necessary adjustments to ensure optimum system performance. The monitoring process simply involves sending commands to the system. For example, a PC user can instruct the network to scan for the presence of a power failure or for any unusual power signal. If the scan detects that there is a problem, a message will be displayed on the screen and the system will halt operations.
There are several advantages to the system. For example, the fault tolerant feature of these networks allows PCs and laptops in the same building to stay connected even when one of them is undergoing a power outage. The PC stays connected to the wireless router, and the laptop continues to connect to the local network. When one of them is down, the other goes online and reconnects. The only way to lose connection is through the power loss in the case of a power outage.
Wireless Sensor Network Fault Tolerance Scheme
Many of us have been hearing about the Wireless Sensor Network Failure Tolerance (WNF) since it was introduced in various industrial sectors. This is a concept that makes use of various radio-frequency signals and the data that is accumulated from them, which can be collected in faraway places without affecting the working of the main networks. Since the main focus is on wireless sensors, the working of the computer network is never affected when WNF is applied. The principle of the WNF is pretty simple; it makes use of the Distributed Management Information System (DMIS), which is the central repository of the data and settings for all the computers in the entire organization.
There are multiple nodes present in the DMIS and each of them has a specific work region. In case there is any failure in the primary system or the secondary system fails over, the work will be moved to the node that is active. This allows the work to run smoothly despite a system fault. It should be kept in mind that even though the nodes are operating smoothly, the WNF will not affect the server.
The WNF also makes use of a failover mechanism. If a node fails over, the others will continue to function normally. Failover will occur automatically as soon as the server starts functioning again. With a WNF, the LAN will always remain up and there will be no problem even if there is a system crash. This means that the entire system can be easily functional and the work can be restarted very easily.
In a WNF, there will be a time lag between the actual occurrence of a fault and the response from the servers. This will increase the probability of the system failure. This is why most businesses are making use of the fault tolerant scheme so that they can reduce the effect of the system failure. This saves a lot of money and time. The end result is a better system performance and increased productivity.
There is a need for the WNF to determine the cause of a problem first before taking any action. It has to check the system’s hardware as well as software. This way, it can find out what exactly is causing the issue and how to handle it. If the hardware is good, the problem can be fixed immediately. On the other hand, the software is the one responsible in finding out the exact reason for the system’s failure. Through this, the work on the problematic wireless network is started immediately after the problem has been detected.
The most important thing about the failover is that the client systems connected to the wireless system do not have to suffer because of it. They can continue working without any delays at all. This is a great benefit especially for companies with many employees working from one location. They do not have to spend their time wondering when the system will be up and running again so that they can continue with their daily schedules. The WNF allows them to work even while the system is down.
